UK lagging in gastro surgery

September 5, 2017

The UK is lagging behind the rest of Europe in gastric surgery, according to leading surgeons speaking at an International Conference in London.

France, with a population similar to that of Britain, carries out 37 000 obesity operations a year, compared with just 5000 in the UK. Two countries with far smaller populations – Belgium and Sweden – perform 12 000 and 7000 respectively, while Italy does 8,000, says The Guardian newspaper.

‘The UK data is overwhelming – surgery makes a difference to people’s health and we want commissioners to acknowledge this and act accordingly,’ says Marco Adamo, a consultant surgeon at University College Hospital and the Chair of the National Bariatric Surgery Register. ‘Severe and complex obesity is a serious, lifelong condition associated with many major medical conditions, the cost of which threatens to bankrupt the NHS.’

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